Episode 106 - The 17th Lancers survived the Charge of the Light Brigade but not the Rijk Section

The Anglo-Boer War

This is September 1901 and it's been a wet Spring so far. The weather has caused trouble for both Jan Smuts and Louis Botha - but things are about to improve for Smuts after his daring raid into the Cape Colony almost ended before it started as you’ve heard. The number 17 shall feature strongly in this episode. We will hear how the 17th Lancers who were the first line of cavalry in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean war, meet their match on the African veld. Twenty four hours after their horrendous ride known as the Night of the Big Rain, the 17th September dawned bright and sunny after days of rain. The men of Jan Smuts’ commando were cheerful as they rode in the sun, but there was little additional reason to be optimistic. General Haig and thousands of his men were searching the nearby hills and valleys for Smuts and the Boer General knew time to act was ebbing away. His men were down to their last few rounds and many were now on foot. Our intrepid narrator Deneys Reitz who’d joined Smuts was operating as one of the General’s Scouts as part of the quaintly named Rijk Section, or Rich Section, and he realised how critical the situation was. Still the sun was shining. After a few miles General Smuts ordered the Rijk Section - Reitz’s small group of scouts, to ride ahead of the commando and look out for trouble. That was when they ran slap bang into the 17th Lancers and a major battle developed.